Web OS in Cloud Computing: A Case study

Int. J. Advanced Networking and Applications
Volume: 07 Issue: 05 Pages: 2868-2875 (2016) ISSN: 0975-0290
2868
Web OS in Cloud Computing: A Case study
Ranjan Kumar Mondal
Department of Computer Science & Engineering,
University of Kalyani, Kalyani, India
E-mail - ranjan@klyuniv.ac.in
Debabrata Sarddar
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering,
University of Kalyani, Kalyani, India
E-mail – dsarddar1@gmail.com
----------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT-----------------------------------------------------------------
Like a Server Operating System (SOS) and a Cloud Operating System (COS) are responsible for computing
resources. In a server the OS is responsible for managing the various hardware resources inside a server’s frame.
A Web Operating System serves the same purpose like traditional server does. Instead of managing a single
machine’s resources, a cloud Operating System is responsible for managing the cloud infrastructure. But unlike a
traditional Operating System, a Web Operating System has to do everything at scale. In present paper we would
discuss and study Web OS.
Keywords: Web OS, Cloud Computing, Cloud OS, Virtual Desktop
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Date of Submission: March 10, 2016 Date of Acceptance: March 24, 2016
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I. INTRODUCTION
A Web Operating System is a Web platform
which allows the user to use a virtual Desktop
through a Web browser over the Internet rather than
using any particular local traditional operating
system. This incredible technology allows a user to
access their own virtual desktop from anywhere around
the world, without even using a network like with a
remote PC. In addition, user are essentially using
the Internet to work as a desktop, rather than an
actually desktop computer.
Web Operating System is an open source Web desktop
following the cloud computing concept. It acts as a
platform for Web applications composed by using the
Cloud Computing concepts. It includes a desktop
environment with applications and system. It is
accessible by portable devices via smart phone
also. Every Cloud Operating System lets user to upload
files and work with them no matter where user is. It
contains applications like Word Processor, PDF reader,
and many more developed by the Cloud vendors.
Development of an OS enabling worldwide computing
is a current issue nowadays. Such an OS is called the
Web OS. Most Internet users use Web OS to download
applications remotely. The common model of these
services consists of client-server or master-slave
configuration with a network as a media. The use of
Web resources is highly motivated by different reasons.
These include reliability, availability, fault tolerance,
load sharing, function sharing, and performance
aggregation. The many various real applications exhibit
very different requirements.
However, the heterogeneous and dynamic nature of the
Web infrastructure ensures that it is impossible to
provide a complete catalog of all resources
available on the Web. Web OS has an applications
that are geographically distributed, available, scalable,
and reconfiguring. It will include features for resource
discovery, collaboration, storage, execution,
management, authentication and security.
II. AN OVERVIEW OF CLOUD
COMPUTING:
Cloud is a simplified Operating System running on a
Web browser providing access to a variety of Web-
based applications that allow the user to perform many
simple tasks without booting a full-scale Operating
System. The Operating System is designed for Mobile
Internet Devices and PCs that are mainly used to
browse the Internet. From Cloud the user can quickly
boot into the main OS, because Cloud continues
booting the main OS in the background.
Cloud computing is anything or/and everything in
online. Online is all in Cloud Computing. Cloud
Computing is all based on Internet. Cloud computing
refers to a system in online where services are delivered
over the Internet. Anybody can access through Internet
into cloud computing world.

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Cloud computing is known as Internet based
computing, with shared resources, software and
information is provided to computers and other
devices. Cloud Computing is a computing in which
services and software are provided over the Internet
which is very cheap and affordable.
Cloud computing is a technology that uses the
internet and central remote servers to maintain data
and applications. Cloud computing allows consumers
and businesses to use applications without installation
and access their personal files at any computer with
internet access.
Example of cloud computing is salesforce.com, Yahoo
mail or Google mail etc. Clients does not need software
or a server to use them. The server and email
management software is all over the Internet and is
totally managed by the cloud service provider
Yahoo, Google etc. The consumer gets to use the
software alone and enjoy the benefits. Cloud
computing is on demand access to virtualized IT
resources that are housed outside of clients own
data center, shared by others, simple to use, paid
for via monthly subscription which is very low in cost,
and accessed over the Web with many features in it.
The basic concept of cloud computing is using
software via the Internet instead of installing it.
Cloud Computing defines a software that manages
collections of infrastructure as an Operating
environment created in a user’s computer from an on-
line application stored on the cloud and run through a
Web browser.
III. VIRTUAL DESKTOP:
1. A virtual desktop is an individual user's interface in a
virtualized environment. The virtualized desktop is
stored on a remote server rather than locally.
Desktop virtualization system is a software that
separates the physical machine from the software and
presents an isolated operating system for
users. Desktop virtualization tools include Microsoft
Virtual PC, VMware Workstation and Parallels Desktop
for Mac.
The benefits of include:
Cost savings because resources can be shared and
allocated on an as-needed basis.
More efficient use of resources and energy.
Improved data integrity because backup is centralized.
Centralized administration.
Fewer compatibility issues.
Knowledge workers who use mostly business software
applications are good candidates for desktop
virtualization. The model is not generally viable for
users with high resource demands.
2. On a single host machine, a user may have separate
virtual desktops for different applications. One desktop
might feature applications for graphic design, for
example, and another might feature business
applications.
IV. WEB OS OVERVIEW
Web OS is designed as a distributed system. The Web
OS framework enables a new paradigm for Internet
services. Web OS goal is to provide a platform
which allows the user to benefit from the
computational potential offered by the Web. It’s aimed
is to make available to all sites of the network resources
to execute computations for which local resources are
missing[1].
The kernel of a Web OS node is a system, a reactive
system responding to requests from users or system. A
Web OS-node integrates user, server, and applications.
It is capable of providing a set of services, which can
pass on to each other requests when appropriate. Again,
because of Web is dynamically changing, there exist
some warehouses that associated with the Web OS node
provide the necessary information and components for
meeting requested services. Each Web OS node is
using its own warehouses to store and continuously
update information about the node and available
services and resources.
IV.1.WEB OS
A Web OS is a Web-based app that emulates the
application capabilities of an operating system. It's
basically a virtual desktop that gives user
communication tools (like email), productivity tools
(like word processing) and ability to play games and
any other application that user would find on a typical
OS like Microsoft Windows. But that's not all - a Web
OS should be an expandable platform (just like
Windows) that gives developers the right tools (like
APIs) to develop new applications and add new
utilities.
Web OS is network based service where a user can
access his system through network. It is an introduction
of one or more operating system in the category of Web
operating systems. Web OS was introduced as a
thought that one might be able to play with application,
store data, for sharing on the web from anywhere. So a
Web OS does. Today Web OS are capable of storing
large amount of data as large as 30 GB. User can share
applications.

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IV.2.THAT WEB OS DOES
In these systems, a company provides computer
services to users through an Internet connection. The
provider runs a system of computers that include
application servers and databases. With some systems,
people access the applications using Web browsers.
With other systems, users must download a program
that creates a system-specific client. A client is software
that accesses information or services from other
software. In either case, users access programs that are
stored not on their own computers, but on the Web.
In traditional operating systems, user has to install
applications to computer. The applications would exist
on computer's hard disk drive. A Web OS might look a
lot like a traditional OS, but it doesn't manage user
computer's hardware or software. A Web OS allows
user to access applications stored not on user
computer, but on the Web. The applications exist
wholly or in part on Web servers within a particular
provider network. When user saves information in an
application, user might not store it on user computer.
Instead, user saves the information to databases
connected to the Internet. Some Web operating systems
also give user the option to save information to user
local hard disk drive.
IV.3.HISTORY OF WEB OS
The Web OS is a computing research project which
started in 1996 at the University of California, Berkeley
and Continued at Duke University, University of Texas
at Austin, and the University of Washington.
The Web OS is first named as HyperOffice and then as
MyWebOS and then after one year it has been named as
Web OS. Web Operating Systems are also commonly
referred to as Web desktops or Webtops. It is a multiple
integrated built-in applications that allow the user to
easily manage and organize her data from any location.
IV.4.WEB OS MOTIVATION
The goal of our project is to provide a set of OS
services to wide area applications, including
mechanisms, process execution, resource management,
authentication, and security. On a user single machine,
application developers can depend on the local
operating system to provide these abstractions. In the
wide area application developers are forced to build
these abstractions or to do without. This ad-hoc
approach wastes programmer effort and system
resources. To address these problems, Web OS provides
basic operating systems services needed to build
applications that are geographically distributed,
available, scalable, and configuring.
V. WEBOS IMPLEMENTATION:
Our initial implementation is split into the
following pieces:
Web OS: A system allowing applications to read and
write to the URL name space. Consistency is available
to applications requiring it through protocol.
Active Names: A mechanism for logically moving
service functionality (such as load balancing) from the
server into the network.
Secure Remote Execution: We believe applications
will be running on remote nodes for users. Assurances
must be provided ensuring that applications are not able
to violate the integrity of the remote server.
Security and Authentication: Applications accessing
remote files must authenticate their identities before
access to protected files.
Transactions: Applications must have well-defined
failure modes. For example, an aborted remote agent
should not leave a user's local file system in an
inconsistent state.
CLIENT-SERVER COMMUNICATION.
Web OS use a two-tier architecture in which one
machine acts as both application and presentation
server. The client is the second tier. The application
server hosts virtual machines that run programs and
push them to a presentation server, which manages the
client connection.

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The client runs application and passes user input back
to the application server.
Client-side WEB OS makes use of several technologies
on the client side:
interface.
engine handles communication with the
server asynchronously, using AJAX.
server. JavaScript is used to provide client-side-only
interactions.
Server-side
Web OS is written in PHP on the server side, and
provides multiple high level abstractions. The goal of
these is to make it easy to write new applications, and
avoid dealing with low-level primitives. Web OS is
also a Web application development framework.
VI. THE GOAL OF WEB OPERATING
SYSTEMS
Being able to work from everywhere, regardless of
whether or not user are using a full-featured, modern
computer, a mobile gadget, or a completely obsolete
PC. Sharing resources easily between different work
centers at company, or working from different places
and countries on the same projects.
Always enjoying the same applications with the same
open formats, and forgetting the usual compatibility
problems between office suites and traditional operating
systems. Being able to continue working if you have to
leave user local computer or if it just crashes, without
losing data or time: Just log in to user Cloud Operating
System from another place and continue working.
EXAMPLES OF WEB OPERATING SYSTEM
Web OS site: http://www.Beta.cloudo.com
http://www.Oos.cc
http://www.eyeos.info
http://www.lucid-desktop.org/
http://www.amoebaos.org/
Email site: http://www.gmail.com
Online storage site: http://www.mega.com
VII. FEATURES AVAILABLE IN WEBOS:
Open API: the typology of Application Programming
Interface that it uses
Open-source: the possibility for users and developers
to contribute to the enrichment of the Web OS by
creating new applications and widgets
Integrated apps: the applications that the Web OS
features by default (text editor)
Audio-video Player: the availability of a media player
within the Web OS
Photo editing tool: the availability of a tool that allows
the user to edit images.
E-mail client: the presence of an email client.
Instant Messaging: the availability of an integrated
instant messenger.
Calendar: the existence of a calendar.
Collaboration - Conferencing tools: the presence of
online collaboration tools (such as VoIP)
Mini-Browser: the integration of a Web browser
File storage: the amount of space if available to store
files online
File sharing support: the support for file sharing with
other users.
Desktop Search: the presence of a desktop search
engine within the Web OS
VII.1.CHARACTERISTICS OF WEB
OPERATING SYSTEM:
Free sign up for personal use
Online application services
No maintain charge and security cost
Access to any Website
Work as a social networking
While the operating system will work as well as the
Website.
VIII. BENEFITS OF THE CLOUD
OPERATING SYSTEM:
Worldwide availability of Cloud Operating Systems:
As it’s available through internet.
Requires only browser: A browser with Java support
is more than enough.
Dynamic content and design: Interface can be
customized according user needs, windows are floating
so that they can be repositioned.
Extensive list Applications: Office applications,
Multimedia applications, Network applications and
Chat applications etc. all are available.
Remote storage facility: Through the file browser user
can store files over the internet and edit them as user
want.
Browser and Platform independent: All browsers
and all operating systems are supported.
SERVICES OF WEB OS PROVIDES:
Web OS provides:
Calendars,
E-mail,
File management,
Games,
Instant messaging programs,
Photo, video and audio editing programs,
Spreadsheet programs,
Word processing programs etc.

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ADVANTAGES OFFERED BY A WEB OS
A cloud OS is not simple to implement. There are two
reasons for this. First, the sheer scale of the cloud
infrastructure pushes the technology limit. Few
companies have had the experience of managing such a
big infrastructure, and the cloud providers are forced to
build new solutions from the ground up. For example,
Google designed Big Table to store a large amount of
semi structured data. Similarly, Amazon designed
Dynamo to manage storage and built their own
management infrastructure to support their Web
services API. Second, a cloud has to be robust and
scalable because it is designed to be shared by
hundreds or thousands of people instead of just a few
users on a PC. Some advantages are as follows:
Need not to install OS
No hard drive with more memory
No external hard disk
No one software to be installed
No times loss to install software
No extra charge to buy software
Software to be updated latest version always
Piracy decreased
No crash any software
One type of software will be used at a time (like media
player, either vlc or wmp)
No software will be shared by copy among users
Always time saving to direct use application software
No carry laptop from home to workplace
Online Backup.
DISADVANTAGES
There is always to be online.
Slow bandwidth hazard
Risky for service provider shutdown
IX. FUTURE THOUGHTS OF CLOUD
OPERATING SYSTEMS
In near future, most people won't do their work with
software running on a general-purpose PC. Instead, they
will work with Internet-based applications running from
smart phones and tablets.
Cloud computing allows customers to have easy,
instant, and access to tools, data and applications
they need when they want to use from any networked
computer even mobile devices like laptop, smart phone
or tablet. We introduced the Cloud operating system or
Web operating system that aims to provide an
expressive set of resource management options and
metrics to applications to facilitate programming in the
Cloud, while at the same time exposing a programming
interface providing developers with an access to a
scalable computing and networking environment,
allowing the implementation of robust, elastic and
reliable distributed applications.
X. CONCLUSION
Building a highly scalable system is not a very easy
task. We have to invest in a great deal of engineering
efforts to make sure not only the overall system, but
also every single component are robust and scalable. In
this paper, we want to show a new way of making the
systems, a cloud vendor has to spend a large amount of
efforts to make services scalable, reliable than other
implementations.
Web OS has the potential of being an important
distributed computing system for the Internet. It
promises supporting applications that are
geographically distributed with high reliability,
security, scalability, and manageability.
Some research and prototyping of Web OS have been
underway to overcome some of the challenges and
difficulties pertaining to the design and implementation
of such a system.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Kalyani
Mali, Head of Department, Computer Science and
Engineering of University of Kalyani. Without her
assistance and guidance, we would not have been able
to make use of the university’s infrastructure and
laboratory facilities for conducting our research.
REFERENCES
[1]: Oliver Krone, Simon Schubiger. WebRes: Towards
a Web Operating System. Kommunikation in
Verteilten Systems 1999: 418-429.
[2]: Peter G Kropf. Overview of the Web Operating
System (Web OS) project, 1999
[3]: Nazib A. Kofahi, Ahmad T. Al-Taani web
operating system and computing on the web.
Information Technology journal 4(4), 2005. 360-
366.
[4]: MohitJain,Mohd. Danish, HemantYadav, “Cloud
Computing and Online Operating System”, IJCTA,
Mohit Jain et al, Int. J. Comp. Tech. Appl., Vol 2
(6), pp-1795-1799.
[5]: www.wikipedia.com
[6]: www.eyeos.com
[7]: www.glideos.com
[8]: www.startforce.com
[9]: www.technical.com

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AUTHORS PROFILE
Ranjan Kumar Mondal received
his M.Tech in Computer Science
and Engineering from University of
Kalyani, Kalyani, Nadia; and B.Tech
in Computer Science and
Engineering from Government
College of Engineering and Textile
technology, Berhampore,
Murshidabad, West Bengal under West Bengal
University of Technology, West Bengal, India. At
present, he is a Ph.D research scholar in Computer
Science and Engineering from University of Kalyani.
His research interests include Cloud Computing,
Wireless and Mobile Communication Systems.
Debabrata Sarddar is an Assistant
Professor at the Department of
Computer Science and Engineering,
University of Kalyani, Kalyani,
Nadia, West Bengal, India. He
completed his PhD from Jadavpur
University. He did his M. Tech in
Computer Science & Engineering from DAVV, Indore
in 2006, and his B.E in Computer Science &
Engineering from NIT, Durgapur in 2001. He has
published more than 75 research papers in different
journals and conferences. His research interests include
Cloud Computing, Wireless and Mobile
Communication Systems.
Annexure: I
Types of Web OS
There are many WebOS.
AstraNOS, BeDesk, cmyOS, Desktoptwo, DoxBoard,
GCOE X, eyeOs, Glide, G.ho.st, goowy, jooce,
mybooo, myGoya, OOS, Parakey, Psych Desktop,
Purefect Desktop, SSOE , StartForce, Xindesk,
Nivio,Webdesk, Webdows, Widgets Gadgets, YouOS,
ZimDesk, DesktopOnDemand, Free Live OS Zoo.
1. Cloudo
Cloudo is a free Cloud Operating System that lives on
the Internet. This means that we can reach our
documents, photos, music and all other files no matter
where we are, from any computer or mobile phone or
tablet. It features an open, powerful, stable and versatile
development environment. We can easily share a set of
files, images or set up a joint account with friends and
colleagues.
Link: http://www.cloudo.com/
2. eyeOS
eyeOS is a disruptive desktop totally usable from a Web
browser. It includes an office suite and some
collaboration applications, as well as a full framework.
It is Open Source so we can host our own system,
keeping all our data under control.
eyeOS is one of the most used Web Operating System.
With eyeOS we can build our private Cloud Desktop.
Using eyeOSWeb Runner we can open our eyeOS files
from our browser with our local apps and save them
automatically on our cloud. In eyeOS 2.0 we can work
collaboratively with other users simultaneously in the
same document. We will get privacy and cloud
computing at its best.
Link: http://www.eyeos.org

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3. Glide OS
Glide OS is a cloud computing solution. Glide is a free
web os with 30GBs of storage. Users can upgrade extra
storage with cost per year. The Glide OS provides
automatic file and application compatibility across
devices and operating systems. With Glide OS user also
get the Apps helping user to synchronize home and
work files.
Link: http://www.glideos.com/
4. Lucid Desktop
Lucid comes with lots of applications. Customer can
browse photos, listen to music, and edit documents. It
also comes with an RSS feed reader, some games, a
calculator, and a bash-like terminal application. We can
install additional third-party applications.
Lucid is a free, open source Web desktop, or WebOS
that lets us access users media, office documents, and
other files anywhere stay up to date with Twitter, RSS
feeds, and what’s happening on the Web create great
Web applications in ridiculously short amounts of time
Link: http://www.lucid-desktop.org
5. OOS
iCube OOS is a free Online Operating System that
provides an amazing number of useful applications and
services: Organize users files, documents and personal
data from anywhere around the world. The primary goal
is to provide to users the highest level of usability and
all necessary means to facilitate online collaboration.
For instance, intuitive drag and drop operations are used
wherever they are expedient and user can share user
data with other users.
Link: http://oos.cc/
6. myGOYA
myGOYA is a Flash based online desktop that allows to
access to all data anywhere in the world. It doesn’t
require installation and contains the following tools:
Webmail, Calendar, Private Messenger, Contacts, Chat,
Notes and more.
Link: http://www.mygoya.de/us/
7. Xindesk
Xindesk is a free, solution for making all our files,
calendars, contacts and other data accessible and in
sync wherever we are. It’s pretty much like accessing
our computer from any standard Web browser, from a
computer, a mobile phone or any other device
connected to the Internet. The core of Xindesk is a Web
OS featuring application that opens and saves the
standard office formats.
Xindesk is the first Web operating system that works
easily, even for people without deep computer
knowledge. The Web OS is an open platform, just like
Windows and Mac OS. This enables anyone to develop
new applications.
Link: http://www.xindesk.com/
8. Starforce
With Starforceuser can run Windows apps such as MS
Office, pdf etc. We can also stitch in Web apps such as
Google. Starforce also contains native apps such as
Email and Calendar. The combination of Windows
Apps, Web Apps, and Startforce Apps makes Startforce
Web Desktop the most comprehensive and functional
virtual desktop solution on the market.
Startforce Web Desktop offers a familiar user interface
with a full desktop experience within a Web browser.
Startforce supports multi-windowing, drag and drop,
right click icons, themes, start menu, shortcuts, etc. IT
can onboard users rapidly without any additional
burden from a training and support perspective.
Link: http://www.starforce.com/

2875
Annexure: II
Comparison Table
Before we take an in depth look at Web applications,
we have created a simple comparison table with some
important features of each Web application. More
precisely, we have included in the table the following
characteristics:
Virtual Space (if it’s specified) – most of the services
does not specify in registration step the available space
Live Collaboration Support – if this service allows
multiple user to access and work with files stored on
Web OS
Offline Mode – this service allows user to use the OS
also when the Web connection isn’t available
Localization – if the Web OS is available in multiple
languages
Mobile Support – if users can access to data also with
mobile devices
Apps Manager – if the Web OS allows users to
add/remove applications
Developer Tools – if application provides tools or
documentation that developers can use to build their
own apps.
Service Virtual Space Live
collaboration
Support
Offline
Mode
Localizati
on
Mobile
Support
App
Manager
Developer
Tools
Cloudo Yes Yes Yes Yes
eyeOs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ghost 5GB Yes
Glide Up to 30GB Yes Yes
Lucid 25MB Yes Yes Yes Yes
OOS 1GB Yes Yes Yes Yes
qWiki Office Yes
SilveOs Yes Yes Yes
iCloud Up to 3GB Yes Yes Yes Yes
Jolicloud Yes Yes Yes
myGOYA Yes
ZimdeskOS Yes
CorneliOS Yes Yes Yes Yes
AstraNOS Yes
Xindesk Yes Yes
Starforce Yes Yes Yes
Cloudo Yes Yes Yes Yes

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